This working paper is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series.
Explore more working papers and policy reports here.
UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) Working Paper Series: IIPP WP 2020-21
Authors
- Mariana Mazzucato | Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
- Henry Lishi Li | Research Fellow in Health Innovation and Policy Engagement, UCL Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose
Reference
Mazzucato, M and Li, H.L. (2020). A market-shaping approach for the biopharmaceutical industry: governing innovation towards the public interest. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2020-21). Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/wp2020-21
Abstract
Enhancing research and development, and ensuring equitable pricing and access to cutting-edge treatments, are both vital to a biopharmaceutical innovation system that works in the public interest. However, despite delivering numerous therapeutic advances, the existing system suffers from major problems: a lack of directionality to meet key needs; inefficient collaboration; high prices that fail to reflect the public contribution; and an overly financialised business model. COVID-19 has magnified and focalised these challenges. We review these problems and argue that overcoming them requires a fundamental reframing of the role of the state in innovation, from market-fixing to market co-creation and co-shaping, in which risks and rewards are shared across a symbiotic public-private relationship.
This working paper is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series.
Explore more working papers and policy reports here.